Control
by xXannabellXx
Summary: Dib is acting strange- Like, strange even for HIM. Gaz decides to investigate, and becomes a test rat for another one of Zim's experiments. She isn't sure if she OR her brother will survive... Rated to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not claim ownership to the characters,**** or related logos. They belong to Jhonen Vasquez**

Chapter One: Experiment

"HEY! DIB, LOOK! I THINK THAT'S BIGFOOT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW!" Gaz yelled, jumping up. Normally, this would cause her brother to give up the remote long enough for her to take it, and she could change it to anything other than Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mysteries. This time, however, he didn't even flinch, and just looked ahead, his eyes glazed.

"Dib, what's wrong with you? You just went to Zim's house one day, and came back all-" She stopped. _Of course! Stupid Zim did something to my _stupid_ brother._ She put down her Game Slave, and walked out the door. Ever since Dib had come back from Zim's house a few days ago, he had been quiet. He didn't react to anything you said, and didn't really seem to care. He had also been eating a lot less. She saw him occasionally nibble on something, but never really eat.

She almost stepped onto the sidewalk up to Zim's house, when she remembered the lawn gnomes. She picked up a fair sized rock and threw it at one. The rest of them, detecting the rock and mistaking it as a threat, fired lasers at the lawn gnome who it had hit. To her satisfaction, the gnome blew up, leaving a smoking burnt spot. She did this for all but one of the gnomes, and simply ran past this one. She didn't really care what happened to Dib, but if he died, her dad would hire a babysitter. That needed to be avoided at all costs. Of course, there was always the chance Membrane simply wouldn't notice Dib's death, but this was only a chance.

She walked in the unlocked door. She didn't know why Dib always complained; That had been easy enough. Walking inside, she saw Gir on the couch. He didn't seem to notice her until the TV went to commercial. Once it did, he got off the couch and looked at her.

"_Intruder!_" He yelled, his eyes turning red. She stood her ground, and his eyes went back to cyan.

"Where's Zim?" She growled.

"In his lab." The TV show came back on, and Gir sat down on the couch. She walked past him and up to the toilet in the kitchen. Once she was in the lab, she followed the sound of voices. They were coming from a room behind a closed door. She listened to the conversation.

Deeper Male voice:"I still don't get what you mean by that. Like, how tall?"

Zim:"As tall as you even, sometimes taller."

Higher Male voice:"Ack! No! That's not possible. I can't imagine..." He sounded irritated.

Deeper Male voice, skeptical:"So they're tall...And stupid?"

Zim:"Yes, my Tallest. They're stupid, but-" Zim was interrupted by his computer.

"Um...Zim, there's an intruder."

"_What? _Blow them up, or something!"

"I-I can't really blow them up...They're in the lab..." The computer explained. Zim made an angry noise.

"I must go, my Tallest." He cut the transmission. Gaz stepped away from the door, prepared for Zim to step through it at any moment. He did, and seemed a little surprised to see Gaz there. He narrowed his eyes at her. Before he could say anything, she said,

"Okay, Zim, I don't know what you did to my brother, but you have to fix it. _NOW_." She was angry, but still had that air of indifference she usually carried. Zim smiled at the mention of her brother.

"Ah...The Dib-stink. He thought he was in control, trying to break into _my_ lab. Ha ha ha...He won't be a threat to me anymore." He laughed softly.

"What did you do to him, anyway?"

"I'll show you," Zim mused, motioning for her to follow him. She opened one eye into a slit. She didn't trust him, but followed him anyway. He led her to a large, circular room. Almost the moment she stepped in, something hit her, and she was bound in thick, black rope. She growled.

"Let me out of this. Let me out and fix Dib, and I might let you keep _one_ of your limbs." She opened both her eyes a little. Her doing this was normally a sign of anger. She wasn't afraid, not of stupid Zim. Zim picked up something that looked like a gothic choker necklace. He put it on her and clasped it.

"There, little Gaz. I used a similar device of your brother. His is less visible, on his ankle, but your's doesn't stand out, does it? Let me explain. He had broken into my lab. Actually, I had been working on an invention just when he did. I managed to get a DNA sample of his, and programmed it in. I knocked him off his feet long enough to wrestle the device on him. Let's see how yours works." He pushed a few buttons by a computer screen, then looked at her. She tried to yell an insult at him, but was stopped by the choker. She felt a surge of warmth from it, then a horrible pain shot up her spine. It went from her spine to all her other limbs. She yelled out. Even she didn't know how loud she could yell. Zim seemed a little surprised.

"I wasn't expecting it to work _that_ well... It was on a high setting, but your brother's biological signature is in it right now, so it shouldn't have done _that_...Here!" He pulled a hair from her head and put in a drawer below a giant screen. She was still recovering from the shock, so didn't yell at him.

"Computer! Get all you can from the sample!" The computer scanned the hair, and results showed up in Irken on the screen.

"Hmm...That can't be right..." Zim murmured, looking at the results. They were almost exactly like Dib's, except the results showed a female sample. Zim said something in Irken, so Gaz wouldn't understand him. The computer responded,

"Um...Their father might have-"

"In Irken!" Zim snapped. The computer groaned, then explained possible reasons in Irken.

"Their father might have something to do with it, which would explain the fact that neither of them have met their mother, or seen her."

"What do you mean by that?"

"They could be child clones of their father. Like, made in a lab."

"But...Gaz is a girl." Zim said, clearly confused.

"He probably did that on purpose. He of all people would know how to edit a DNA sample to make it something else." The computer explained.

"What are you talking about?" Gaz interrupted. Zim just waved his hand, not bothering to turn toward her. She was still too exhausted to retaliate. She was shaking from the shock. He sat for a moment, thinking about this new information. _So, the Did-stink's sister and him have the _exact_ same DNA test results, except her's is female and his male...I'll have to remember that,_ Zim decided. He turned toward her, wearing a cold smile.

"By now, the necklace should be adjusted to your body. You can leave now," He said, untying her. The moment she was free, she tried to punch him, or hurt him somehow, but the second she lifted her arm to do this, she was shocked by the necklace. Instead of going all over her body, it was mainly aimed at the arm she had almost lifted. The shock left her arm a bit useless. She could barely move it, and it didn't have much strength.

"That will wear off," Zim assured her. She glared at him, her eyes full of icy hatred. If the necklace wouldn't have shocked her at the slightest attempt to hurt him, he would have been intimidated. But he wasn't.

"Before you leave, little Gaz, I should warn you; Trying to or thinking about telling someone shocks you on a very high level. Use your head.," He warned. She turned around and walked away, without a word. She got out of the lab and into the kitchen. She passed Gir on her way out. He didn't seem too concerned about anything, simply staring blankly at the television. She walked through the gnome field, none of them bothering to even turn toward her. She was no longer a threat. She walked home, a bit numb over the hour's events.

Zim turned on the monitor, and told the computer to establish a video connection to the Tallest. As usual, they were a little irritated, but Zim didn't notice.

"My Tallest! I have good news!"

"Yes, Zim?" Red asked. He had a bit more patience for Zim than Purple did.

"I have perfected the shock control rings," Zim said.

"Whatta those do?" Purple asked, though he didn't really seem interested.

"They're almost like PAK's, but they can tell when the creature connected is about to take a certain type of action. As the name says, they're circular, and just get put on any living creature like a piece of jewelry. They can monitor whoever, and can be set to shock whoever's connected when they're about to take certain types of actions. I've already tested it on a few humans. They work very well." Zim declared.

"And you came up with this yourself?" Red asked.

"I did some research on a similar device in some old Vortian military files." Zim explained.

"You have access to those?" Red asked, looking a bit surprised.

"Uh-huh. I have to go, my Tallest!" Zim cut the transmission, something he very rarely did. As soon as he did, he brought up the results of both Gaz and Dib's DNA and bio-signature analysis. They were nearly identical. He frowned. As far as he was aware, siblings would have a similarity in results of this test, but not that close. The idea that they were made in a lad seemed far-fetched, but all the evidence supported it. _But what does this mean? Is it important in my Earth conquest?_

Gaz walked into her house, and sat next to her brother. She had thought about what would happen if she tried to tell him what would happen. At first, it seemed unproductive. All that would happen would be her getting shocked. But once she realized this, it hit her- She would get shocked, and her brother would see. If he had the same thing happen to him, he would reconize the signs and know what happened.

"...I got a new necklace. Do you...like it?" She asked, trying to get his attention. He gave her a suspicious look, and looked at the shock control ring. When he did, his eyes got a little wider.

"Um...Yeah, I do. Where did you get that?" He asked, playing along. She decided she had to make it more obvious, to confirm his suspicions. _If_ he had any, that is.

"Z-" She tried to say 'Zim', but was shocked. A violent wave went through her spine and branched out to the rest of her body. Dib saw her go rigid, then shake slightly, like she had had some form of a mild seizure for a few moments. He, however, recognized the signs, and knew it wasn't a seizure..

"Can I...Um...See that necklace? Up close?" He asked. For the first time in days, there was a little light behind his eyes.

"Yeah..." She held up the necklace. He took it in his hands, observing it. He almost gasped, but Gaz saw him become rigid. She knew he had just gotten shocked. Now that she thought about it, he had done this several times over the last few days. She felt a pang of irritation and regret that she hadn't noticed. They both sat in silence, not sure what to do with this new information. Mysterious Mysteries was on, but Dib wasn't paying attention. They both knew that if either one even considered something the rings thought rebellious, they would be shocked. Their father, Professor Membrane, walked in. They both looked up, a bit surprised to see him.

"Hello, family. I finished some projects at the lab, and decided to come home for a while." He walked over and sat on the couch with them, and looked at the TV. He seemed disgruntled when he saw Mysterious Mysteries. Dib cleared his throat.

"Um, you can change that, if you want," Dib mumbled, handing Membrane the remote control. Gaz got an idea. She had remembered the time her father had locked her into an isolation tank, trying to find a cure for the 'disease' caused by Dib's cursing her. She held up the necklace.

"Heeeey, dad. I...Got a new necklace today. Do you like it?" She had tried to control her thoughts and heartbeat, not wanting to be shocked just yet. Her father held the necklace between his fingers, looking at it.

"Yes, I-" He stopped. Gaz had gone rigid. She had been trying to somehow show her dad that something was wrong. She had held her breath, and thought, _I will kill Zim and tell everyone he's an alien and tell my dad about the necklace and kill Zim and-_ The necklace has frozen up for a moment, as if it were overloaded by the sudden outburst. This lasted for a few seconds, then the shock hit her. It was more consistant than before, and lasted almost a minute. Her vision got blurry. She could hear her father yelling, panicked. She felt something warm drip out of her mouth. She at first thought it was saliva, but the bitter, iron taste hit her. It was blood. Her father picked her up and ran to his lab. He took out what looked like an iron rod, and forced it through her arm, breaking a bone. The rod absorbed the shock. At first, Gaz hadn't been able to feel to rod shoved through her arm, but the pain hit her when the shock stopped. She yelped, but soon blacked out.

Her father grabbed a first aid kit, picked her up, and ran to the hospital. Dib, who had realized what had happened, had climbed into the car a few moments earlier. Their dad hadn't driven them very many places before, so his driving was a bit of a surprise. He drove at least sixty miles over the speed limit, and didn't wait for other cars, he swerved around them.

"D-Dad! You're gonna kill us!"

"Don't be foolish, son! I know _I've_ got fifty-six years, nine months, two weeks, five days, three hours, ten minutes, and thirty-six seconds left! _You_ should have a bit more!"

"W-What?" They pulled into the hospital, and the car stopped with a lurch. Membrane jumped out, carrying Gaz. Dib ran after them. Three minutes later, Gaz was being rushed to any random room. Once in there, she was stabilized. Her brother and father sat in the room. A nurse in about her twenties was talking to Membrane (And giggling a lot, Dib noticed).

"Ha ha! Good job! You saved her life with that stabilizing rod. Heeey, did you hear about that idiot on the road earlier? The news said he was driving almost seventy miles over the speed limit! A miracle he did kill anyone! Did you see him, by any chance?" The nurse rambled on. Membrane, looking completely innocent, said,

"Why, no, I didn't. Did the police get their license plate number?"

"No, he was goin' too fast." The nurse shrugged, then walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Gaz, who had been awake the whole time, motioned for Dib to come closer, and whispered,

"Am I the _only one _who noticed that nurse undid two of the buttons on her blouse by the time she left?" No, she wasn't. Membrane was the only one in the room who _didn't_ know what she was doing. Gaz looked at the spot where the rod had gotten shoved into her arm. She almost laughed. There was something of a huge hole in her arm. She was told she wouldn't be able to move that arm at all for about a month, and it would stay in a cast for about two months. Her only regret was that the kids at school wouldn't get to see the rod wound (She wanted to tell them something like someone thought she was a vampire, and had attempted to shove a stake into her heart, but missed and hit her arm). A doctor walked in.

"Hey, you two are going to have to leave. Visitation hours are over." Membrane motioned the doctor to follow him into the hallway. A few minutes later, Membrane walked back into the room.

"He decided we could stay here a while longer. How nice of him." A few minutes later, the doctor walked by again, and from the look he was giving the family, the talk hadn't gone quiet how Membrane described it. They stayed half the night without anyone bothering them, but at about three A.M, the device on Membrane's sleeve started beeping.

"Yes, hello?...Yes, I heard about him. Seventy miles over the speed limit, I heard...Now?...Alright." He hit a button on the device.

"Son, we have to go now. Say good-bye to your sister." Dib mumbled a 'bye' to Gaz, and walked out with his dad. He was dropped of at home, but his dad went right back to the lab. Dib knew he should get to bed; He had school the next day.

He showed up late for school. He had woken up on time, but simply didn't feel like going yet. He walked in at ten. Mrs. Bitters growled at him.

"Your late! Why? Bigfoot, or a ghost pirate ninja? What's your excuse this time?"

"Weeell...My sister had some form of a violent seizure, and blood started coming out of her mouth, so my dad shoved an iron stabilizer rod into her arm, and somehow didn't kill her with that, and now she's in the hospital," He said, all in one breath. He looked out into the class and added at a normal speed,"And once I find out what caused her seizure or whatever it was, we're not sure yet, I'm taking it, puting it in a blender, and throwing it into a _lake_. The doctors said it was caused by a huge electric shock." He glared at the class. Most of the students mistook this for him simply being upset over his sister's incident ("Ooooh! How sweet!" "I hope it does get blended and thrown into a lake!"), but Zim knew what he was talking about. He didn't show any sign of being scared, and would have shocked Dib right then and there if it had not been for the large amount of witnesses.

"Dib, you have issues. Now take your seat." Mrs. Bitters said. Normally, everyone laughed when Mrs. Bitters insulted Dib, but the girls were too busy squishing over what a sweet big-brother he was, and the guys were too busy rolling their eyes at the girls. Dib tried to focus on not letting the shock control ring read his emotions. A lot of the girls thought he was acting strange because he was worried about his sister ("Oh! He's so sweet...But crazy..."). Mrs. Bitters quizzed them on how to survive in artic conditions (still no funding for real textbooks). She dismissed them for lunch, and right after this was recess. Zim walked up to Dib.

"I should shock you, right here!"

"Zim, my sister is in the hospital. She's in the hospital because she was coughing up blood because of your stupid little necklace."

"How did you know what it was, anyway? It should of shocked her if she tried to tell."

"I saw her getting shocked, and realized where she had gotten that new choker necklace!" Dib growled. Zim smiled coldly.

"Don't forget who's in control here, Earth larvae," Zim warned, hitting a button on a remote in his pocket. Dib's shock control ring sent a wave of electricity through him, momentarily paralyzing him. Zim saw him go rigid, and his smile got wider,

"I''m going to go play human-dodge ball now, pathetic human." With that, he walked off. Dib felt his anger well up, but was careful to keep his heart steady and avoid thinking about Zim. In the last half-an-hour of class, he lost his focus, and the shock ring detected a sudden, steep rise in Zim-directed anger. It shocked him, going from his spine to the rest of his body. He choked on his breath, and fell out of his chair and started twitching some. He ran over to the trashcan and threw up five times.

"Dib!" Mrs. Bitters snapped,"You're gross! Go to the nurse!" Dib nodded, his body felt drained of power. On his way out, he saw Zim frowning, apparently thinking about something. Dib went to the nurse. The nurse didn't really seem to care.

"Go sit down." She said. He sat there for the rest of the school day. When school let out, the nurse hardly seemed to care about him going. She just sat at her desk, looking bored, playing with a tube that made a mooing noise. Dib walked home, not sure what he should do. He finally decided to go visit Gaz. He grabbed twenty dollars from his dresser and went to catch the bus. Once he got to the hospital, he asked the lady at the reception desk what room Gaz was in. She told him room sixty-six on the fourth floor. He took the elevator up. Gaz was awake when he walked in.

"I hate this hospital," Gaz growled upon seeing him.

"Ya' know what your room number is? Sixty-six. It seems appropriate, of course, but kind of ironic." He said, ignoring her negative comment. He almost never showed annoyance with her for her pessimism, and deep down, she was grateful for it.

"Dib, I need to tell you something," She said, becoming completely serious.

"Certain devices can overload, and mine nearly did. If I can get it to without letting it get a chance to absorb the shock, I think I can fix this-" Gaz was interrupted by Dib.

"No."

"...What?"

"You almost killed yourself with what you did last time!" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You can't control my thoughts." She sneered. He looked down for a second. He seemed more serious than before.

"If you're determined to kill yourself with this, I can try it for you. I'll already be in the hospital, so I probably won't die. You don't try it, Gaz! Not at least until you heal!" His voice got louder. He never raised his voice with her. Under almost any other circumstances, she would have killed him for it.

"You _probably_ won't die?"

"I'd rather be dead than in Zim's control!" He turned to walk out, but added,"I'm going to try it." He walked out into the lobby of the fourth floor. A few nurses sat talking. _Good,_ He thought, _If this doesn't work immediately, they'll need to respond quickly..._ He steadied his breaths, readying himself. He sucked in as much air as he could, and thought, _I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS AND I'M GONNA KILL ZIM AND_ _I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS AND I'M GONNA KILL ZIM AND_ _I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS AND I'M GONNA KILL ZIM AND_ _I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS AND I'M GONNA KILL ZIM!_ He thought this for about three minutes strait. When he stopped, he tried to steady his breathing. He could feel the shock control ring on his ankle squirming, tightening and loosening. It got cold, then so hot he almost yelled out. Suddenly, it stopped. It stayed motionless for a moment, then exploded. It was an extremely small explosion, and only hurt Dib. He stared at his leg in horror; He couldn't feel part of it, the numb part being covered in rubble. One of the nurses screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own any of the characters or related logos. They belong to Jhonen Vasquez**

Chapter Two: Explosion

Dib woke up in a hospital bed. He couldn't feel the bottom half of his left leg, the one the shock ring had been on. He almost got up to feel it with his hand, but was stopped by a doctor.

"Woooow, there, buddy. You okay? You're not, like, throwing up toxic ants or turning inside-out, right?" The doctor asked. It was clear he was used to working with children.

"Ummm...Nope, not since last week with the toxic ants. I once turned inside-out, but my sister helped me with that," Dib answered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. The doctor just chuckled and showed a huge, fake smile. He got more serious when he spoke.

"Alright. Good, good. Now, you're probably wondering what happened. There was an extremely small explosion due to broken gas pipes in the room you were in. Your dad and sister are coming soon. Your sister, as I'm sure you remember, is in the hospital, too. Heheh, she put up a fight to get to see you...heheh..." The doctor gave Dib a fake smile. Dib sat up, and tried to swing his legs over the bed.

"I have to go see Gaz! This is really..." He stopped. He only felt one leg hit the ground. Before he could look down, the doctor forced him back down.

"Hey, hey, buddy! It's okay! She's coming. You just relax." The doctor assured him. Despite the doctor's fake smiles and reassuring tone, Dib was alarmed. His voice came out quietly.

"Why can't I feel my leg? Tell me!" Dib croaked. The doctor gave Dib a kind of nervous, sympathetic look. Before Dib could demand answers, his dad made a grand entrance, almost breaking the door off it's hinges.

"Son! They told me what happened to your leg, and I-"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LEG? SOMEONE LET ME SIT UP AND SEE IT OR JUST EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED!" Dib yelled in desperation. Gaz hobbled in, an IV attached to her arm.

"Dib," She said,"Look down." Dib sat up and looked at his left leg. He was covered by a blanket, and felt his leg. It was a bit sore, and he had a feeling they had put him on a lot of painkillers, or it would have hurt more. He felt down where his leg was. Just after his knee, his hand hit the mattress, where his leg should have been. He felt around the area, not finding where the rest of his calf was. Alarmed, he ripped the blanket off and threw it onto the freakishly smiley doctor, who looked rather sad at the moment. Dib's pupils got tiny. The lower part of his leg, up to about six inches about his ankle, had been blown off in the explosion. He tried to say something, but a tiny squeaking noise came out instead. Membrane cleared his throat, and picked up a large suitcase he had brought with him.

Gaz looked at her brother. She had been right. The rings could overload, but she hadn't thought they'd explode when they did. Someone could survive losing a leg, but if her's exploded, her head would be blown off. But Dib was free of his, and he could tell their dad, and Membrane would surely find a way around it, wouldn't he? She also excepted the fact that her brother had just saved her life. She hated nice, squishy feelings associated with events like someone's leg getting blown off trying to save you.

Zim sat by Gir on the couch. Ever since the Dib threat had been eliminated, he had become a bit lazy. Gir had even noticed Dib's absence. Things had been peaceful for the last few days. Zim even didn't yell at Gir for leaving the door open. It was border-line boring. The computer interrupted the silence.

"Zim! One of the shock control rings has exploded."

"Eh?"

"Look!" The computer said, sounding irritated. The TV was turned onto the news. An Asian woman was doing a report, standing in front of the hospital:

"...The boy, who's name has not been released, lost the lower half of one leg in the explosion. Investigators say the explosion was due to faulty pipes." The computer, satisfied with the amount of information given, turned the TV back off. Zim jumped up.

"C'mon, Gir! Get on your little brother disguise! We're going to visit Dib!"

"He's so nice!" Gir purred, throwing on his little brother disguise. Gir used the small rocket-blasters on his feet to get himself and Zim there. Zim walked into the hospital, a bit nervous. Dib would often taunt him about doctors and nurses finding out he's an alien. He walked up to the reception desk. Trying to look innocently as possible, he cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, but do you know what room a boy named Dib is in? I'm...Here to visit him."

"Dib...?"

"No, that's right. His leg got partially blown off." **(A/N: This is a reference to the episode "Dib's wonderful life of Doom" Not the leg part, the Dib not having a last name part)**

"Ooooh. Room sixty-five. Oh," She leaned in and whispered,"Be careful around a few of his visitors. There's a little girl, also a patient, who attacked someone earlier for snapping at the boy." Zim nodded. He knew that a little girl visiting Dib that was a patient there too meant Gaz, but why would she be defending Dib? He got into the elevator, Gir following. Gir was delighted with how the elevator moved. He seemed sad to get out.

"C'mon, Gir. We're visiting the Dib child." Zim ordered, stepping off at the fourth floor. He approached room sixty-five. He could hear voices inside. A few he didn't recognize (He assumed these to be different doctors and nurses), but three he did. One of the three was Professor Membrane, another was Gaz, and the last, Dib. Zim nervously opened the door. Everyone in there (Nine people, not including Zim or Gir), looked at him. Dib and Gaz had a glint of hostility in their eyes, but Membrane seemed delighted.

"Hello! You're Dib's little foreign friend, aren't you?"

"Yep. I here to, um... Visit Dib. How is he?" Zim asked.

"I'm _right here_!" Dib yelled, sounding exasperated.

"Good," Zim said,"But..um...I can't breathe if there are too many people in a room with me. Maybe you seven should leave," He pointed at the doctors, nurses, and Membrane. They quietly decided to continue the conversation in a different room. Dib and Gaz glared at Zim, a cold hatred in both of their eyes.

"Zim, now that that thing exploded, I'm going to kill you." Dib said, narrowing his eyes.

"Dib-stink, I just came to see if part of your leg really was blown off. I wouldn't be surprised if it did. The shock control rings are set for shocking the wearer for certain thoughts and feelings, but can only take so much. Apparently, they explode when they're overloaded. _You_ survived because you were already in the hospital, and it was on your _ankle_," Zim sneered. Dib and Gaz caught the implied message that if Gaz tried overloading her's, her head would be blown off. Gaz desperately wanted to hurt Zim, but she knew the necklace wouldn't let her.

"Zim, can I ask you something?" Dib asked.

"You just did."

"No, I mean, something else! If the shock control rings- that's what you called it, right?- use electricity to shock people, why hasn't it killed Gaz or I or messed up our spines?"

"The rings use electricity to manipulate pain nerves, so you feel pain. A normal electric shock, like what would kill someone, just travels through their body. It's set to not cause any long-term damage. Of course, I could always change that," Zim added. Gaz focused on staying indifferent. If she let the ring shock her now, when she was still recovering, it could do damage, no matter what Zim had just said.

"Then why did it hurt Gaz? And when I got sick in school?" Dib asked.

"Because it was overloaded. Not severely enough to explode, but enough that it malfunctioned. What she felt was a normal shock." Zim said, and added,"But what about your leg? Lemme see it!" Zim sounded like an exited little kid. Dib glared at him darkly, and lifted the blanket. This revealed what Membrane had in the suitcase.

"Oooh, cool!" Zim yelled out upon seeing the metal replacement. Dib's lower leg had been replaced with a metal one, specially designed by Professor Membrane for the occasion. He started poking it, and Gir ran up to look at it. Dib kicked Zim.

"Oops," Dib murmured sarcastically, and added in an innocent voice,"I guess I don't have complete control over it yet." Gaz laughed upon seeing Zim thrown a few feet into the air and land on his butt. She laughed more and more, until it was quite noticeable. Zim narrowed his eyes.

"When's the last time your ring shocked you, anyway?" Gaz slowed her laughing enough to answer.

"Not since I've been in the hospital, actually," She said, laughing more.

"Did they put you on medicine to help pain?" Zim asked. Gaz nodded. She had stopped laughing, and now just occasionally giggled.

"The painkillers must be messing with how your body functions, so the shock control ring can't figure out what your thinking and when," Dib observed, lifting his left leg back onto the leg, with some difficulty. Gaz snickered, when Gir burst out into insane laughter. Zim looked a little irritated with him, but ignored Gir's laughing. He rubbed the spot on his chest where Dib had 'accidentally' kicked him.

"Sleep now,_ pathetic human_! You may think you're back in control, but I've still got your sister," Zim growled. Gaz burst into another insane laughing fit.

"H-He's not asl-eep!" She laughed and laughed. Dib and Zim both gave her a suspicious look.

"You think that's also the medicine they have her on?" Zim asked Dib. Dib shrugged, and Gaz calmed down a bit. _Yeah, I think it's the medicine,_ Dib decided as Zim walked out. Gaz started laughing again when she looked out the door.

"I...think...Gir...just...threw up...all over...Zim!" She choked out between laughing. Dib wasn't sure if he preferred Gaz on or off painkillers. Then again, the painkillers were the reason she wasn't getting shocked, so it was probably better she was on them. A minute later, the doctors and Membrane came back in. Dib motioned for a doctor to come closer, and whispered,

"I think you put Gaz on too many painkillers. She's acting weird."

"Kid, that's not the painkillers. After she attacked the doctor from earlier, we put her on stuff to calm her down." The doctor replied. Gaz had attacked the doctor because he had been trying to accuse Dib of being some type of bomber.

"Oh, _come on_!" Gaz had wailed,"He's like, thirteen! And the police said it was from faulty pipes!" She had opened her eyes wider, a tell-tale sign she was angry.

"Shut up, kid. I have the right mind to say you're in on it too!" The doctor had growled. Gaz opened her eyes completely, then tackled the doctor. No other staff had been in the room, but they heard the struggle and came in with Membrane. They seemed quite aggravated when they saw what happened, and were talking about transferring her to a psychiatric ward. Membrane surprised everyone by saying,

"A grown man accused my grade-school aged children of being suicide bombers, while no one else was in the room. Plus, Gazlene is on so many medicines right now, it could have been any of them. I'm shocked and ashamed such a high-quality hospital is wasting their time lecturing a little girl on something so excused, and not figuring out what they should do about their dysfunctional staff!" He had kept his voice firm, but hadn't raised it. The staff looked a little guilty, and they took the 'dysfunctional' doctor out of the room, and dropped the matter.

Zim walked into his house and went to the lab. Perfecting the shock rings was something he had really been interested in. He was making notes and observations when the computer broke the silence.

"Someone is trying to establish a video link. Are you going to talk to them?" Zim looked up from his notes.

"Yeah, sure. Put them on the screen." The screen sprang to life, color coming on. Zim was slightly surprised to see the Tallest on the screen. He saluted.

"My Tallest! I didn't call you," Zim explained.

"As surprising as that is, we know," Red said,"But we wanted to know more about the shock control rings you've been working on." Zim jumped up from the chair, looking proud.

"I can send you a copy of my notes, but I need to tell you something about them."

"Hmm?"

"If they're overloaded, they'll explode. There's a good and bad side to this. If someone intentionally overloads it, it'll explode and they won't be controlled by it. The good side is that if you put it on someone's neck, it'll kill them if it overloads, so it won't matter if they're overloaded. That's if the overload is severe, and it can't work through it. If it's minor, the shock control ring will just release a burst of electricity. It usually does this, but normally, it directs the charge to manipulate someone's pain nerves to put them in severe pain. But this charge is just random, and is like getting hit with an electric bolt of some form." Zim said. Red and Purple both looked at him for a few moments. They both seemed mildly surprised that Zim had managed to design such a device.

"Zim, you said you had gotten the idea from some other thing, right? What was it again?" Red asked. Purple echoed,

"Yeah, what was it?"

"An old Vortian military weapon. Of course, I had to do a lot of adjustments. I'm not surprised they never used it, because it had a ton of flaws, and was kinda weak. After some adjustments, like building one using Irken methods, it worked fine." Zim explained. Red and Purple seemed surprised.

"I don't remember ever hearing about Vort working on something like that..." Red murmured, and added,"Send us a copy of your notes, research, and one of the shock control rings. Make sure it includes everything." With that, the Tallest cut the transmission. Zim gathered all his notes and an extra shock control ring he had made. It didn't have a DNA sample of bio-signature programmed in, so it was basically harmless. He put all of this into a machine, and copies were sent to the Tallest.

The doctor seemed to consider Dib's question. Dib had asked when he was getting out, because he had found out Gaz was being released from the hospital the next day.

"Weeell, your leg is going a lot better than we had predicted, especially because of having the fake leg, even if it _wasn't_ put on by professionals," The doctor added at the end. He was referring to the fact that Membrane had put the metal replacement on Dib himself. The hospital staff ha told him not to, and that he wasn't a professional, and he almost listened, until he found out what the hospital had planned on doing. They wanted to replace the missing part of Dib's leg with something that resembled a spring, and didn't want to put it on for another six months. Membrane wanted them to use his, but they refused, saying that his wasn't 'professional'. He had just connected it in about twenty minutes while none of the doctors or nurses were in the room.

"Don't worry, son! This leg part will work just as well, if not better, than your real leg. Not to mention that it's a thousand times better than the spring they want to put on your leg..." The staff wasn't too happy when they found out what Membrane had done, but this was overpowered by the respect and astonishment that came when they found out how well it had worked.

"So maybe in a few days?"

"I'd say you can go home the day after tomorrow." The doctor said, flashing his signature smile. Dib was glad he was going home soon; He couldn't stand the doctor's huge, fake smile. But, being in the hospital had good sides. For one, he had begun to plan on how to help Gaz with her shock control ring. He had at first thought he should tell his dad about it, but would he really help? Dib remembered how Membrane had 'helped' when he had cursed Gaz with the shadow hog. But this wasn't a disease not curable by science. This was a precious device that could kill Gaz at any moment.

Gaz couldn't directly voice her annoyance at Dib not helping her yet, but it showed in some things she did. The rooms door was busted open, as Membrane came in (Making a grand entrance, as usual. Dib decided his father was on camera too often.).

"Hello, my son! How's your leg?" Membrane asked. The doctor went to check some statistics, knowing Dib wasn't going to pay much more attention to _him_.

"It's great. I'm getting used to moving it. I can walk smoothly enough that people don't even notice my leg if it's covered by clothing," Dib said. This was nice, because people tended to ask questions when they noticed the lower half of one of your legs is made of metal. In the few times Dib had gone outside his hospital room since he got it on, children stared. It was really irritating.

"It's good to hear that! You'll be out of this hospital in no time, at this rate," Membrane exclaimed, seeming cheery. Ever since the explosion, Dib was reminded of the shock control ring stuck on Gaz's throat whenever he saw his father. He still wasn't sure what he should do about it. Part of him wanted to make Zim remove it, but if Zim managed to get one on his throat, he'd be worse off than before. If he told his father, could he help? That seemed to be what Gaz wanted to do, but she couldn't say it out loud, because she would definitely be shocked. If Dib didn't find a way to destroy all of the shock control rings and their blueprints, he could easily see Zim finding a way to rule the world with them.

Visiting hours ended, and Membrane was told to leave. Dib told the doctor he wanted to go to sleep. He was left alone after that, and lay awake, thinking. His father could possibly be able to destroy or deactivate the ring without killing Gaz, but how long would it take? If Membrane went overboard, Gaz would kill Dib. Dib could try removing the necklace himself, but he'd probably decapitate Gaz in the process. If he did that, he'd be arrested, and he had a pretty good feeling Gaz would come back as some type of demon creature to haunt him. The idea of forcing Zim to deactivate it was out of the question, because Zim may just put another shock ring on him, and on his throat this time. The best option seemed to be telling his father.

The last full day in the hospital was mostly spent talking to doctors about his leg, making sure it wasn't slowly killing him, or something. The day after that, he packed his stuff and prepared to leave. Gaz was released the day before, so she was there when Membrane drove them home. Both children knew the only reason their father was paying so much attention to them was to check on Dib's leg. This was just another project to him. It wasn't a surprise when he had to rush off to the lab almost the moment they got home.

"Wait! Dad!" Gaz yelled. Their father stopped for long enough to listen to whatever Gaz was going to say.

"What? Be fast about this, I have to go!"

"Dib wants to tell you something really, really important!" Gaz said. Their father looked expectantly at Dib.

"Um...I..." Dib stumbled.

"He knows why I had a seizure! _Hurry_," She growled at Dib.

"D-...Dad...Gaz's seizure was because of her necklace...Because...It was cursed! Yes! And I bet she'll start believing in paranormal stuff if she can't get the cursed necklace off soon!" Dib lied. He knew he couldn't tell his dad that an alien put mechanical shock devices on them both. He'd never believe that. His dad didn't look too convinced, but Gaz had caught on.

"OH MY GOD, DAD! IS THAT BIGFOOT? AND ALIENS! AHH!" Gaz yelled. Membrane's eyes got wide.

"This is more serious than I thought! C'mon, daughter, I'll remove the necklace- that isn't cursed because there has to be a scientific explanation- if you can't," He said, ready to go to drastic measures to make sure _both_ of his children didn't go insane. He called his secretary and said he'd be a while. He carried Gaz to his home lab.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own any of the characters or related logos. They belong to Jhonen Vasquez.**

Chapter Three: Ten Minutes

"Watch it! I can't get a Game Slave Three if I'm decapitated!" Gaz yelled, trying not to flinch when her dad tried to remove the necklace.

"It's alright. I'm good at this."

"Good at removing cursed necklaces?"

"Ha ha ha! You're my funny child! No, good working with scientific tools, because curses don't exist." Membrane said, chuckling. He lifted something that looked like a scalpel up, observing it.

"This should do it! Hold still." Membrane ordered her. She wasn't about to squirm with the sharp looking tool so close to her throat. She felt the shock control ring squirm a little, as if it were uncomfortable. Membrane laughed in victory, and held up the necklace. Where it had been cut, you could see wiring coming out. It sparked a few times.

Gaz suddenly felt dizzy. Her eyes filmed over for a second. When she tried to open them to see, she couldn't see anything for a moment: Just darkness. Suddenly, something that looked like a clock appeared at the corner of her vision. It read "10:00" and began to count down. She realized it said ten minutes. _What's going on? _She thought. As quickly as her vision had fogged up, it cleared. At first, she was revealed, until she realized the clock was still at the corner of her vision, and counting down. Ten seconds had passed since it first started counting.

"'!" She yelled all in one breath. She ran to Dib's bedroom. He was sitting on his bed, reading Crop Circles Weekly. Gaz snatched the magazine and threw it across the room.

"Hey, what was-"

"Dib, something went wrong. As soon as Dad removed it, a little clock appeared at the corner of my vision and it's still there! It's counting down from ten minutes and about twenty seconds have gone by! I'm dizzy and something bad's gonna happen when it hits zero!" Gaz explained as quickly as possible. He gave her an unbelieving look at first, but it changed to surprise. She actually looked a little scared.

"Let's go!" Dib said, dragging her along with him. He jumped down the stairs two at a time. He ran into the garage, dragging her with him.

"Tak's ship is repaired, so we can use it to go to Zim's." Dib quickly explained. He jumped in, Gaz following him. He stared at the levers and buttons for a few moments, when Gaz shoved him aside.

"I'll do it!" She snapped. She hit a few buttons and pulled a lever, and they shot out of the garage, leaving a huge hole. Their father had already left for work, so there were no questions. Gaz piloted the ship, and they got to Zim's house in three minutes and twenty-three seconds, landing in the yard (Clock: 5:57). They jumped out and ran past the gnomes, and ran inside, taking two seconds. Zim looked at them, surprised. He and Gir had been slouched down on the couch. Zim jumped up.

"What are you doing here?"

"Zim, Dad removed Gaz's shock control ring, a-" Dib was interrupted by Zim.

"How? That shouldn't be pos-" Zim yelled out.

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Gaz yelled,"Zim, he did, and now there's a count down clock in the c-"

"In the corner of your vision, and it started at ten minutes?" Zim asked, smirking (Clock: 5:39).

"Yes," Gaz snapped,"Fix it!" This seemed to amuse Zim. He smiled.

"I don't suppose the necklace is still in one piece, or that you brought it?" He asked, smiling. Gaz shook her head (Clock: 5:34).

"The necklace was _connected _to you. Without it, you have ten minutes."

"Ten minutes to what? And why didn't Dib get a clock?"

"Dib didn't get one because the part of him his ring connected to got _blown off_. And...What do you think will happen in ten minutes?" (Clock: 5:23). Gaz couldn't control her anger any more, and tackled Zim. She climbed on top of him, and pinned him down. He looked a little surprised.

"I don't know! Now fix this!" She yelled.

"GIR! ATTACK!" Zim commanded. Gir stood up, and saluted. He attacked, but not Gaz. He duct-taped Dib up, making it so Dib couldn't talk or really move. Gaz glance at the struggle, and Zim used this opportunity. He jumped up, and knocked Gaz across the room. She hit the wall, hard. She wasn't sure if Zim would normally be able to take her, but she felt weak and dizzy.

"Are we interrupting something?" Gaz recognized the voice from when she had snuck into Zim's lab. It was the deeper male voice. Where there was normally a creepy picture of a green monkey, there was a video feed. On it, there were two aliens of Zim's race, both extremely tall. One had purple eyes, the other red. Red was the one that had spoken. He was smirking a little. Zim gasped.

"M-My Tallest!" Gaz would have used the opportunity to attack Zim, but she was too dizzy.

"Zim, we were going to ask you something, but care to elaborate on-" Red motioned to the scene in Zim's house-"This?"

"Like I said, Sir, the shock control rings aren't unlike PAK's, and this girl somehow removed her's by force. She got a count-down clock." Zim explained. The Tallest appeared to know what that meant.

"You! Human girl! How much longer on the clock?" Purple asked. Gaz looked up, feeling dizzy. Red murmured,

"From the way she looks, not much longer."

"Three... ... ...thirty... ... ...one..." She barely managed to moan. She coughed, and it came out as a tiny exhalation.

"Zim, do you know if the ring did any permanent damage?...Other than that? This was the second test subject, right?" Red asked.

"Er...No, I don't."

"Maybe you should save her, to find out. Then you can kill her, or whatever," Purple suggested. Zim frowned, considering this suggestion.

"...I'll do that..."

"I forget what we called to ask. Once you get the test results on her, send a copy of your notes. Understood?" Red asked.

"Yes, Sir!" Zim saluted, and the Tallest cut the transmission. Gaz's vision was blurry, but she could still clearly see the clock: 3:07. Zim picked her up and went to the lab through the trashcan entrance.

"Z...Zim?"

"Hmm?"

"I...If I d...die, I sw...swear I'm c...coming back a...and haunting you." She mumbled. He shrugged, still carrying her. They got down to the lab, and she felt something pierce the arm that wasn't in a cast. She barely felt it. He warned her,

"This is going to hurt. A lot."

"Pa...Pain just...means...I'm...n...not...dead yet." He chuckled at her comment, and hit a switch connected to whatever it was in her arm. The pain was mild at first, but quickly doubled, and that tripled, and so on. After twenty seconds, the pain was more than she could have imagined. She screamed, much more loudly than anything she ever heard. It abruptly stopped, and her vision cleared. The clock stopped on 0:53. She sat up, her head clearing. She was perfectly still for a moment. Suddenly, she yanked the needle out of her arm, and tackled Zim.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" She pinned him down again. She must have looked furious, because Gir saw her, screamed, and ran away, crying. Zim seemed mildly surprised.

"Haven't we gone over this?" He said, without much emotion. He broke his arms free, and shoved her. She landed a few feet away, but got back up. She glared at him. He smirked, and her rage doubled. The lights farthest from them on both ends of the room flickered, and went out. She stood her ground, calm. He glanced at them. The second closest lights did the same. He looked at them suspiciously. Gaz was still indifferent. The rest of the lights did the same, until they were in total darkness.

"Computer! Fix the lights!" Zim yelled.

"..."

"Computer?" All the lights came on at the same time. Zim yelled out, then looked up to see that Gaz had disappeared.

"What the-" The lights went back out, and flashed back on. A message was written on the floor in black marker:

YOU WENT TOO FAR.

Zim stared at the message, stunned. He didn't hear Gaz come up behind him. She kicked him in the back of the head. Zim stood back up. His Spider PAK activated, and he was lifted off the ground, now using the four 'legs'. Gaz smiled, and waved at him. The lights turned back off. Zim yelled out, and the lights flashed back on. He was surprised to see that one of the legs had been pulled off, and lay in a sparking mess on the floor. He growled, and jumped up to the ceiling, trying to see where Gaz went. The lights turned back off, and Zim waited for them to go back on. He wasn't afraid of some little human girl.

The lights took longer to come back on this time. When they did, the message had disappeared, and replaced with a new one.

WATCH OUT, ZIM. BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO BUGS ON THE CEILING.

Zim felt a spike of fear. He still couldn't find Gaz, and was beginning to thing the lights were more than a coincidence.

"COMPUTER! ANSWER ME!" Zim yelled. The computer didn't respond. The lights flashed, only off for a second this time. When they came back on, Gaz was standing where the message had been. Within the second the lights had been off, the message had disappeared. Gaz smiled at him, and waved again. She sat on the ground, and looked in front of her. After a few seconds, neither said anything, and Gaz layed down on the floor.

"C'mon, Zim! I'm not even standing up!" She yelled. Zim was perfectly still, and she chuckled.

"Don't feel too safe up there, Zimmie-boy. Bad things happen to filthy little parasites clinging to the ceiling like a scared child." She sneered. After a moment, the lights flashed off again. They stayed off for almost a full minute. Unlike before, Zim could hear what Gaz was doing, but couldn't figure out what it was. He heard something rip and break, and a few more breaking noises. After this, there was silence. The lights flickered back on. Zim looked around, and couldn't see Gaz anywhere. He wouldn't admit it, but he was scared out of his mind. He looked around more, and realized what Gaz had been doing. All the exits had been destroyed of blocked off. He started shaking with fear.

The lights flashed back off. After exactly ten seconds, they came back on. A new message was on the floor:

DON'T FEEL TOO SAFE, JUST BECAUSE I LEFT.

DON'T EVER FEEL SAFE, BECAUSE I WILL GET YOU, ZIM. YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR.

YOU'VE NEARLY KILLED ME TWICE.

I

WON'T

DIE.

BUT CAN YOU?

Zim yelled out. He looked around frantically, surprised to find all the exits back to normal.

"C...Computer?"

"What?" The computer asked, sounding a bit bored. Zim dropped down from the ceiling, landing in front of a screen. The screen almost instantly turned on, and Zim saw both the Tallest. They looked scared.

"Z-Zim? C-Can all humans do that?" Purple asked feebly.

"You saw that? How long have you been watching?"

"Ever since your SIR unit burst into tears when that girl tackled you." Red answered. Purple ran off the screen for a moment. Zim could hear him getting sick.

"NO! NOT NEAR THE SNACKS! AH!" Red yelled, looking where Purple had run off. Red looked back at Zim.

"No, I-I didn't know any humans could do that." Zim answered, but Red hadn't been listening. He had been preoccupied with Purple's getting sick near the snacks. The transmission was cut. The moment it was, Zim worked on tightening the security.

Irken training was extreme, but didn't prepare you for something like that. Red and Purple had been almost as scared as Zim had been. After they got over that, they laughed at how Zim was stuck on a planet with a scary little girl like that.

Dib had driven the ship home, shaking a little. About five minutes after Zim had dragged Gaz off, Gir had ran up to him, crying. Gir quickly explained that Gaz was scary and showed Dib a video feed from the lab, in the room Gaz and Zim had been fighting in. This was the same video feed the Tallest had been watching, and it had shown everything, including the floor messages, Zim while he was on the ceiling, and the lights flickering off for the first time.

"Gaz?"

"Hm?"

"Are you...Um...A vampire?" Dib guessed. Gaz seemed entertained.

"No."

"Alien?"

"Nope."

"Witch?" He tried.

"Nu-uh."

"From a different dimension?"

"I can't believe you haven't tried 'Spawn of Satan' yet." Gaz said. He gave her a questioning look. Before he could ask, they landed.

"Oh, look at that, I don't have time to answer that. Bye, Dib!" Gaz yelled, jumping out of Tak's ship, closing the top behind to.

"Now I'm gonna have nightmares," Dib said to himself.


End file.
